4 best practices for increasing civility on campus

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Dive Brief:

UC Riverside anthropology professor Yolanda T. Moses writes for Insider Higher Ed about the four areas of focus for college campuses to increase civility among students, faculty and communities.

Support for undocumented students, creating enhancements for free speech and protest and stronger regulations against sexual assault and globalized learning approaches, Moses says, are key for fostering stronger values for tolerance and safe engagement among diverse populations.

Understanding how democracy has devolved to political divisiveness and understanding that diversity strengthens the concept are the central points to campuses creating an expectation of civility.

Dive Insight:

Part of the challenge in addressing diversity is that campus focus on the concept is often categorized as "political correctness," or inhibitions on free speech. And while a renewed focus on tolerance may insulate leadership from criticism about promoting civility, in many cases, it inflames segments of the population and creates internal issues and external relations challenges.

Leadership has a limited influence on the will of individual speech and campus opinion, but the best approach is to provide free speech and contextual support for varying opinions so that groups can be heard and the goal of equal expression is realized.